JBFC's Football (Soccer) Club is back!
After two straight undefeated seasons, the 2016 season is about to get under way. This year's team has some big shoes (or cleats) to fill. Roughly half of our starting line-up, Liku, Neema, Anna, Nyamalwa, Pelu, and Tabu have all graduated from JBFC's secondary school. A wonderful accomplishment for our girls, but a big loss to our soccer program. So 2016, may be a re-building year.
To get the girls geared up for the new season, they attended a soccer seminar hosted by Coach Amad from Marsh Athletes Center in Mwanza, TZ (Mwanza is the 2nd largest city in Tanzania about an hour away from campus). Marsh Athletes Center was started by the former head coach of the Tanzanian Women's National Team. Coach Amad volunteered to teach the girls for three hours. After visiting JBFC, he plans on continuing his training once a month. Amad coaches some of the top girls in the Mwanza region, including Neema and Liku, who recently joined his after-school club team in the city. Neema and Liku will also be helping Coach Amad as coaching assistants for their former teammates. It's a chance for them to continue to improve their leadership skills and potentially learn how to become coaches themselves.
After two and a half hours of practice that worked on dribbling, passing, receiving, and movement skills, Coach Amad held a half-hour long discussion with the girls. He told the girls about the importance of discipline and teamwork in life, not just soccer.
We hope JBFC's soccer program will continue to rack up the Ws. But win or lose, we believe their time on the soccer pitch is helping them to grow into confident, disciplined young women.
